Paper Dioramas made with Mixed Media

These dioramas are mostly made of wood painted with water soluble oil.

A Bewitching Broomstick

Tada! My first broomstick! About time! It was a delight working on the composition, preparing all the little parts (beads, wooden cut-outs, paper leaves, woven ribbons) and of course making the body itself. The making was magical (of course). Some people have different broomsticks for many different occasions, but I am limited by the lack of space, so this one will have to do. Anyway, I have the feeling that it likes the exclusivity.  Being an animist, I’ve always been attracted to magical and ritualistic objects. I particularly connect to the broomstick because it’s usually ridden by women. In this  male dominated world, I’m searching for a more balanced approach. Expressing and exploring the

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Troll Mother

Still having fun with handmade stationery. Here is one I customised into a Troll. The excerpt is from a Swedish fairy tale : These photos were taken these two past weeks. The weather is now really fine. No more snow (but it was still snowing yesterday)

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A Faery Glass

Keeping on with the idea of scrapbooking. This is a “pocket” for a Faery Glass, the kind of magical object that allows you to see the Faery Folk when you look through it. You can also open the window. Now, I’m going to work with digital painting on similar ideas, a cross between scrapbooking, art journal and cabinet of curiosity. I am brimming with inspiration, you have no idea…

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Scrapbooked Letter

It was 8 degrees today! It feels like snow weather is now over. Spring is in the air. But no green trees before the end of May (maybe even June). Meanwhile, it is so nice to see colours again, the rich textures of rock and moss. During my walk, I found a heart of moss at my feet. It was totally by itself, obviously carried here by a recent storm, so I picked it up. That’s what you do with lonely hearts.   I finished my first “Scrapbooked” letter ever and had immense fun creating it. It’s in response to a beautiful hand-crafted letter from one of my penpals. I love this

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Bright April

It is still snowing quite a lot and now with the (almost) permanent light, it is very bright outside. The oyster-catchers have come back, and so begins the festival of light. I’ve been reacquainted with an old passion for penpalling. I love hand-written letters, and I’ve met a couple of very nice German ladies. It is very cosy. It also motivates me to keep on studying German. This and reading Walter Moers. It also gives me the opportunity to decorate my letters with some little cutouts (paper, inks, colored pencils and watercolour):

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Serenade

I finished my first diorama made of paper and every bit of it was fun. I think I will really invest my self in it along with the digital painting (which I’m not giving up on). I used some ordinary sketching paper, cut my shapes, painted them with water colours and enhanced them with colored pencils and felt tip pens. What I really love about dioramas is the way the light changes according to the angle, the time of day and the source of light. It’s very much alive. I also loved not having a precise plan, it was very relaxing adding items as I went along. I’m currently experimenting with this

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The Rekindling of the Flame

2019 has been a struggle with digital painting and it seems to get worse and worse. I must accept the fact that I am not having any fun any longer. Any fun at all. My Soul craves something else. Something wild, magical and full of suprises. But also, kind of risky. A friend of mine this year is planning on working with paper, cutouts and collage. This is something I tried before and I liked it very much but I always prefered digital painting, it gave me more control. While researching images for my friend, I came accross a few lovely paper cutouts and it kind of rekindled the old flame. I

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Tools

Ladies and gentlemen, and others, let me introduce to you my favourite tools: . The two on the left are called colour shaper tools and I use them mostly for scraping the paint and blending the colours in some areas. But for blending, I use mostly the flat brush on the right. I made a bad quality video of the doodling method with the “scraper”. First, I lay my colours down and then I shade them into each other with a brush in circular motion. I use Cobra oil paints which are diluted with water. They are FANTASTIC. A layer takes two days to dry (but a shorter time above a heat

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